Saturday's Scripture Story
for the Week
True and False Shepherds
Zechariah 11:4-17
Two Shepherds
4 This is what the Lord my God says: “Shepherd the flock marked for slaughter. 5 Their buyers slaughter them and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, ‘Praise the Lord, I am rich!’ Their own shepherds do not spare them. 6 For I will no longer have pity on the people of the land,” declares the Lord. “I will give everyone into the hands of their neighbors and their king. They will devastate the land, and I will not rescue anyone from their hands.”
7 So I shepherded the flock marked for slaughter, particularly the oppressed of the flock. Then I took two staffs and called one Favor and the other Union, and I shepherded the flock. 8 In one month I got rid of the three shepherds.
The flock detested me, and I grew weary of them 9 and said, “I will not be your shepherd. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish. Let those who are left eat one another’s flesh.”
10 Then I took my staff called Favor and broke it, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations. 11 It was revoked on that day, and so the oppressed of the flock who were watching me knew it was the word of the Lord.
12 I told them, “If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.” So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.
13 And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the handsome price at which they valued me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord.
14 Then I broke my second staff called Union, breaking the family bond between Judah and Israel.
15 Then the Lord said to me, “Take again the equipment of a foolish shepherd. 16 For I am going to raise up a shepherd over the land who will not care for the lost, or seek the young, or heal the injured, or feed the healthy, but will eat the meat of the choice sheep, tearing off their hooves.
17 “Woe to the worthless shepherd,
who deserts the flock!
May the sword strike his arm and his right eye!
May his arm be completely withered,
his right eye totally blinded!”
Pondering Point
I'm guessing that many folks will not be familiar with this "parable" of the Old Testament. The irony of the parable is that the Lord sends a good shepherd to take care of the sheep who are being fleeced by the greedy shepherds. But the sheep, oblivious as they are, can't even recognize the benefits of a good shepherd in front of them and detest him despite his efforts to help. How often we think we know better than the Lord what we could use!?! How often we place ourselves under the leadership of others who don't have our best interest at heart!?!
Prayer
Lord, help us to submit ourselves to you as the Good Shepherd of the sheep. In the name of my Shepherd Jesus I pray. Amen.
Hook Questions
Use these questions with your group when you are using Bible stories as central to your time together.
- Share an experience of when you struggled to operate under someone else’s leadership.
Bible Storying's Core Questions
- What did you like (or learn new) about the story?
- What did you not like (or not understand) about it?
- What are the various people doing in the story? With whom do you identify within the story?
- What is God doing in the story?
- What might God be asking of you triggered by this story? How is He challenging you?
Remember: A great way to get God’s stories to stick with you is telling them to other people.